Review
A Selection of comments left by amazon reviewers and readers
"an easy-to-learn style, starting with easy tasks and progressing toward the more difficult aspects of creating a persuasive speech. He has great ideas and anyone wishing to put in the time can improve their skills by using the advice in this book"
"the author explains precisely how he blended humor and stories into his speeches"
"book gets right to the point and delivers lots of tips and ideas about making a great speech."
"His tips on how to successfully combine humour, story and persuasion into speeches are really something to take home. Famous words: 'habits create magic""
"The contents of this book show that the author has studied the craft and art of comedy writing diligently."
"Mr. Reddy uses as his subject a speech which he wrote and delivered with notable success, then dissects the piece and explains what worked, how it worked and why it worked"
"got this to help me learn to add humor to my sermons. I'm still trying to apply the techniques. I can't say that I'm funny yet, but I would say that my sermons got better. Definitely worth the read."
"some wonderful nuggets here, for those of us who are not polished speakers. I'm sure I will use many if them in the future. I also really enjoyed watching his speech"
"recommend this book to any speaker who wants to add some spice and energy to their speeches"
"compels his readers the same way that he claims to do his listeners, that is enthrall them"
"Just as advertised, does what I need."
From the Author
Humor, story, and persuasion are the most widely discussed elements of a speech on the public speaking circuit. There are loads and loads of information about each of these respective topics but less information on how to successfully combine these three elements into one persuasive speech. It was precisely for this reason that I wrote this book. It was the one that I had been looking for to help me when I went looking for information on how these three elements could be integrated into one speech. Like my earlier books, this book adheres to my motto: simple to understand, easy to implement. Practical information along with proven principles is distilled into a simple to understand and easy to implement approach. One more thing--as you read along the chapters, look for something cool. I'm offering one of my audiobooks for free so that it will act as a perfect complement for you.
Maybe you are curious to know how I was able to get eighteen laughs in a seven-minute persuasive speech and that's the reason you opened this book. But you will learn much more than that. You'll learn how to understand humor at the elemental level, how to find ways to tap into humor, how to convert real-world experiences into humorous stories, how to tie story and speech elements, along with my secret formula to craft, edit, and execute a successful persuasive speech. Not just that, we will be using a real presentation as a case study to learn these concepts. This case study helped me become one of the top three winners in a speech contest in New England. I also used a revised version of the same presentation to emerge as a top three winner at the India level. So, rest assured that this presentation has successfully undergone testing with a global audience.
If you have read my other books, you may recall my childhood story about how I went blank on stage and reacted by swearing at myself. Worse, it got amplified over the loudspeaker. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life and I never forgot it. Always having this memory motivated me to become a confident and articulate speaker. Initially, I had to overcome a lot, but the more I spoke on stage, the better I got. In fact, I got more excited as I learned new skills after becoming more comfortable on stage. That's when I started following the pros of public speaking such as Tony Robbins, Sir Ken Robinson, and Barack Obama. The pro speakers had this impeccable quality of being able to connect with any audience. It was during this intense learning period that I came to know about TED talks. I stumbled upon Sir Ken Robinson delivering a speech called "Schools Kill Creativity." I watched that speech like twenty times in a span of two days. This is the most watched talk on TED.com, and I watched it more than anybody else. Just kidding! But on a serious note, I did watch this talk, maybe a hundred times, but every time I watched it, I learned something new. However, two things stood out, which acted as evidence for its popularity and success. Those two things were story and humor. Knowing this and being able to implement them is the secret. Once I started doing this, people loved the results. It was just amazing to see the connection it created with my audience.
Initially, though I got smiles and giggles, it was hard to generate good laughs. I really wanted to learn the skill of creating humor through storytelling because it seemed like a cool skill to master. This drove me to participate in a humorous speech contest in 2010. Though it was my first time, I was determined to be good at it. I spent hours watching stand-up comedy shows, reading books, and begging people for help. Well, asking people for help. In that contest, I emerged as one of the top six speakers among the community in all of India and Sri Lanka. That experience made me a confident speaker.
Life moved on. I went to Connecticut in the United States to work as a consultant. After a gap of six months, I started competing. The speaking industry in the United States seemed more mature. Even though I had the raw energy, I badly needed a mentor who could control and channel it. I came to know about Jerry Aiyathurai, who happened to be the speaking champion in Connecticut, a TEDx speaker and a finalist of the World Championship of Public Speaking. I don't know if it was God's grace or sheer luck, but I connected with him in my first interaction. I have never met a kinder person. Today, I am really proud to say that he is my mentor. The thrill I got when he agreed to mentor me cannot be expressed in words. When he started mentoring me, I realized how much I did not know. He not only taught me skills but also made sure I was on track when I faced failure. In May 2012, I practiced hard for a contest and I won two levels, but lost at the third level. Jerry made sure that I got back on track. Because of that push, I again competed in the next season. Again I won two levels but lost the third level. This was a humorous speech contest, but I was pretty depressed and serious when I lost. You might be asking, "Really?" Well, humor is serious business! I thought I would never compete again. I wrote a note to the governor of the Toastmasters community in Connecticut that I was not happy with the results and how upset I was with the way the judging was done.
To my surprise, instead of defending the community, she wrote me a warm email so that I did not lose heart. In fact, she went out of her way to recommend me as a speaker at a conference in upstate New York. My speech got rave reviews. It was a great feeling. In the next season, I emerged as one of the top three speakers in New England.
When I moved back to India, I continued to participate in contests. That season, I crossed five different levels and in the final level, I again emerged as one of the top three speakers in India. The next season, I participated in a contest that judged speakers on their skill in persuading an audience. Here, the message has to be strong; one could not just say funny things. The speaker has to uncover the humor from the stories and deliver it in a way that the audience would enjoy. That was a challenge that I met. In that season, I took my speech to the level of getting eighteen laughs and three rounds of applause in just seven minutes. The humor was more than situational comedy; it was carefully crafted and delivered. I truly believe that if your speech is strong with the principles of story and humor, even a potentially boring speech will be transformed into an entertaining one.
My promise in this book is to explain how to use humor and story in a persuasive speech. I hope you are ready for the ride. Ready, set, go.
Keep Rocking
Ramakrishna Reddy
From the Inside Flap
Chapter 1.
Story, Humor, and Persuasion Simplified
What makes a great story? A great story is when an ordinary character overcomes seemingly impossible circumstances to achieve a goal. That's it. If you can understand this sentence and digest each and every word and reflect it in your story creation process, you are already halfway into creating exciting content.
Now, what is humor? In simple terms, humor brings amusement and laughter to a speech so that the audience is entertained.
Then what is persuasion? In the context of a speech, persuasion is the speaker's skill at influencing how the audience thinks, feels, or acts as a result of hearing the speech.
Persuasion from Aristotle
Aristotle in his masterpiece Rhetoric wrote that persuasion is the result of ethos, logos, and pathos. To be concise, ethos is credibility, pathos is the emotional connect, and logos is the logic in your speech. The best way to use these three elements when speaking is through a personal story. Why a personal story, and not just any story? When you speak, you need credibility (ethos) and that's what comes through in a personal story. If it is the story of your own life, you have the right to speak about it with authority. Logic (logos) can be taken care of by carefully crafting your speech content with the proper flow of ideas in a good order. The emotional connect (pathos) is the main reason for using a story. Story is a powerhouse for pathos because stories have the unique ability to transmit emotion. Emotion creates a great connection with the audience. And on top of it, if you add humor, you will hit a home run.
I can tell that humor and story are the greatest tools for any speaker. Story has the power to transmit emotion and humor helps to deliver positive emotions. Hence, humorous stories make for one of the best mediums to connect with an audience. A great story has a life of its own. With a great story, your words walk into the hearts of your listeners. When you add humor, your words will fly into the hearts of your listeners.
Perspectives of Humor
Dr. Charles Jarvis, a dentist, humorist, and Hall of Fame speaker, defined humor as "the mental faculty of discovering, expressing or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous." Jarvis shared two additional definitions of humor with us. The first is "a painful thing told playfully." The second is "tragedy separated by time and space." Note that both definitions treat humor as a serious thought viewed in a light manner. Ever heard someone say, "I laughed so hard I nearly cried"? This shows how close humor is to pathos: an emotion of sympathetic pity.
The other theory, which is really cool, is the benign violation theory coined by Dr. Peter McGraw and Joel Warner. I heard this theory from McGraw's TED talk "What Makes Things Funny." Although he is not a stand-up comedian, he has done a lot of research on humor. According to the duo, humor gets created when there is a benign (harmless or safe) violation from what is acceptable. They illustrate this theory by using the old gag of someone slipping on a banana peel. Such an accident usually elicits a laugh. However, if the person was hurt badly in the fall, it won't elicit a laugh because it has become harmful and the playful element has been lost.
Sophie Scott in her TED talk "Why We Laugh" said, "When you are alone, you do not laugh often. It means the humor creation is beyond just the quality of the joke. You laugh because you say that you understand the speaker and you agree with the speaker." Humor creates a strong bond and is a vital element for connection. When an audience laughs, it means more than just being entertained; their laughter says they understand you, they like you.
Persuasive Story with Humor
Now that we understand perspectives of humor, let's understand perspectives about story. There are many types of stories and as I mentioned earlier, it would be a cool idea to focus on using a personal story for persuasion. You can persuade even without humor if you tell a moving story of someone dying in your arms, or how you climbed Mt. Everest, or fought with a tiger, etc., but if you, like me, don't have such an emotional story, humor is your mantra.
In order to inject humor into your speech in an organic way, you need to learn the skills needed to craft a persuasive story. Did you notice that I used the word skills? That is because knowing how to craft a persuasive story requires skills. That's the reason I am about to carefully lead you through a tested persuasive and humorous speech. Along the way, we will uncover its secrets and strategies and you will learn the nuts and bolts of how it was created so that you can create your own humorous and persuasive stories. You will also learn the secrets to editing and delivering your speech in ways which will keep your audience engaged and entertained.
Chapter 2.
Knowing the Equation for Creating Laugh Lines
Some people are so talented that humor just pours out of them. And then there are those like me! Many people think creating humor is hard, but actually it is not. Being humorous on stage is a skill you can master if you are willing to work at it. To begin, here is something that you can use. There are many variations to the following humor equation and they can all work because people laugh at different things for different reasons. The following, however, is a good one to follow for crafting laugh lines within a speech.
Premise + Pause + Punch Line + Pause = Laughter
Let us understand the elements with a laugh line.
People exaggerate that parents in India pressure their children to only become a doctor or an engineer. That's not true. They don't just pressure. They blackmail.
I have rewritten the above laugh line to indicate the different elements of humor.
People exaggerate that parents in India pressure their children to only become a doctor or an engineer. That's not true. They don't just pressure. They blackmail .
Premise: The premise is the information needed for an audience to understand or appreciate the punch line. In our example, words highlighted in italics form the premise. The premise must:
- Be believable, even if not completely true. In our example, the premise is believable because the audience also could agree it is a cultural thing that Indian parents are pretty hard on their child's ambition.
- Lead the audience in one direction (in order to surprise them later). Note that I said, "That's not true. They don't just pressure." This leads the audience to think that I am going to say something positive about Indian parents.
- Not be funny.
- Be easily understood.
- Create anticipation in the minds of the audience.
- Be relevant for the audience.
- Be about a situation with which the audience can identify and empathize.
Pause 1: Is needed to build tension. Pause 1 must:
- Heighten the curiosity.
- Not be so long that the audience members lose interest.
- Be long enough to create tension. This is what is known as timing.
Punch Line: It is a word or phrase that follows the pause that triggers laughter. Punch line should create surprise by saying something contrary to the audience's expectation. Here, the punch line is, "They blackmail." The laughter is the result of the release of the tension built up during the pause.
Pause 2: This pause gives the audience time to laugh. Again, it's the timing that is important in comedy and many speakers make the mistake of not pausing after they trigger the laugh. If you do not pause, you will be cutting the laughter short. Don't do this--enjoy it and let the audience enjoy it, too.
Also, during this pause for laughter, you can get the most out of it by using gestures or even a deadpan expression to maximize the effect. Try different gestures to see which one works best. About the Author
Ramakrishna Reddy is an award-winning speaker who has won more than 25 speaking contests comprising from entertaining to inspiring speeches. He has won contests based out of India as well as from United States. He has written 7 books, and regularly speaks to audiences from a few dozens to few 100s comprising of corporate, student and business audiences. He works for a Multinational alternatively out of India and the United States.
